Celuk, a Tourism Village of Silversmith

When mentioning Celuk hamlet, our mind will surely point to a silver and gold art craft. Celuk hamlet located adjacent to cultural village of Batubulan, Sukawati subdistrict, Gianyar, or about 6 km east of Denpasar, is the center of silver and gold handicrafts. In the 1980s, it was known as a tourism village because of its silver handicraft. Every day many tourists visited Celuk.

The village is very typical because people can find out a row of art shops along the road which are all displaying and selling various kinds of silver products. Those silver crafts are on display and sold in glass showcase, so that every traveler passing by can see them. Diverse forms of craft such as rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, brooch and pendant can be found here.

Similarly, there are also kitchen utensils such as spoons, forks, plates, cups, glasses, bowls (commonly used by Hindus to hold the offerings) and others. Silver handicraft embellished with various ornaments consists of dagger, fans and miniature of transportation means (wagon, tricycles, motorcycles, cars, boats, etc.).

More interestingly, when shopping at Celuk art shops, we are also allowed by the art shop owner to have a closer look at the process of making various silverworks. In general, the process of making of silver products passes through two processes, namely the traditional and modern techniques. However, there are also made by combining traditional and modern technique.

From the narrative of some locals, Celuk was starting to be known as a silversmith area since 1976. Initially, there were only 3 silversmiths. After the development of tourism, the emerging new silver craftsmen followed the steps of the three craftsmen. Finally, the other Celuk residents who initially had profession as farmer were ultimately turned to be silversmith until now.

Art Market

To further establish the Celuk village as the icon of silversmith, local residents agreed to build the Silver and Gold craft market at Celuk. The market is located on the highway adjacent to the Open Stage of Putra Barong Celuk. Regent of Gianyar, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati inaugurated the market on Wednesday (Nov 28) and was attended by hamlet officials and senior figure of Gianyar Palace, AAG Agung Bharata.

Chairman of the committee doubling as chief of Celuk customary hamlet, Kadek Marjana, said the development of the silver and gold art market was a joint initiative of local residents of Celuk hamlet mostly consisting of silver and gold craftsmen.

By bringing together the craftsmen through a collective market under the management of customary hamlet, it was expected to kindle the creativity of product design, product quality silver equation, and to increase the confidence of foreign tourists in the silver products yielded by local craftsmen